Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am looking at page 225, and it is the utilities line, the last line in the top section. There is about a $2 million drop there between last year and this year. I am just wondering whether someone from the department can explain that? If that is as a result of energy retrofits, boy, we are really saving a lot of money, but I don't think that is the case, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the complete responses from the Minister. I sincerely thank him for that.

I've talked about the importance of sound air quality regulations for the protection of human health and the environment. Given that this is a new regulatory field for our government and one obviously of great public interest, can the Minister commit to bringing forward a draft of the air quality regulations to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. Does the department intend to respond to all the concerns and issues that were raised and to do so in a transparent fashion, maybe through a table of responses or some other mechanism, as I recommended in my submission?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Maybe I'm not quite understanding the response there. I understand that we're going to do the shipping or try to contract the shipping of petroleum products to at least four communities. The fact that we're doing it now rather than NTCL, can we expect to see any impact on this revolving fund as a result of us doing the work in terms of the shipping? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. In our mandate, there is a commitment to amend the Environment Protection Act, including the development of air quality regulations. Our government started the long-overdue process of developing air regulations in June of last year. The deadline for public submissions was September 16th. Five months have passed, and the only thing I can see is a statement on the ENR website that says, "An update on the anticipated timelines will be posted in early 2017."

Those of us who lived in Yellowknife before 1999 will remember that sour taste in the back of our throats from...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm looking at page 244, which is the Petroleum Products Revolving Fund. I see that there will be a deficit in this revolving fund at the end of 2017-18. Can someone from the department explain how we're going from a surplus of $115,000 in the current year to a deficit of $100,000 in this year or the year to come? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm not going to debate any further the need for more money for Arctic Energy Alliance, but I had one other question: what is our government doing about net metering? This is not the first time I've asked this question, and there's a number of people I know in Yellowknife who have put in renewable energy into their own homes and they're looking for a better break when it comes to net metering. So what is the department doing about net metering? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's a very helpful explanation, and I can see it now.

I also note that the NWT Arts Council in 2014, they developed a strategic plan. Are there any plans by the department to increase our support for arts and performers? Thanks, Mr. Chair. Sorry, and the reason why I say that, Mr. Chair, is this is an area of our economy that has tremendous paybacks; it can help diversify our economy, showcase our culture. Is this something that the department is looking at increasing, say, funding to the NWT Arts Council and/or Support to Northern Performers? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the explanation from the Minister. I don't agree with the process the department has gone about with this. Let's just get a little bit more detail about when was Aurora College told that they were going to get their contribution cut? Just a ballpark figure. Middle of September? When did that happen? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Sorry, I thought we were going through this page-by-page, so I did have one question about -- it's on page 35 and it's about Support to Northern Performers. Back in 2015-16 there was $185,000 in that budget for it; now it's down to $101,000. Can someone from the department explain what happened? Thank you.